The Kindness of Strangers
by Spacebabie
Summary: The lives of the New Olympians in D.C have ran into a couple of snags. First there is a new hate group and second there are murders cropping up around town. Five heros show up, but they might be more of a problem than a solution.


All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Spacebabie

**The Kindness of Strangers.

* * *

**

Previously on Gargoyles

"As the co founder of Humanity Against Monstrosity I cannot allow a freak like this to be amongst humans."

"The quarrymen had lost it's focus. We started out in Washington as an answer to those freaks who set up their organization." _H. A. M. Cofounder_ (Desires)

"Of all the senators that opposed why did Boreas select her?" _Antiope_

"I hope you better work on you case senator, which I doubt you will be for long." _Silenus_

Dryad trying to attack Antiope and Silenus with her hooves and Morpheous casting a hallucination on her. (Clash of the Titans)

"A few of the New Olympians are now living in Washington DC They are establishing an embassy to connect with the humans."_Megara_

"Ass you can ssee I am not quite human, not anymore." _Dr Edwards_ (Network)

"Are you going to mention you're visitor in your diary?"_David Xanatos_ (Diaries)

* * *

Washington D.C.

Green was a keyword to the summer atmosphere around the capitol of the United States. The healthy branches of various trees were covered with leaves of motley hues of green: long, viridian sphere shapes, medium size spades of a yellowish green color, tiny bright green clusters, and veiny celadon leaves the size of a persons hand. The neatly manicured lawns were lush carpets of emerald and the hedges coiled around some of the buildings had an even more varied tints than the trees themselves.

The very air itself seemed to contain specks of fresh green that when inhaled cleansed the lungs of the humans as they milled about on the sidewalks. Without any sign of humidity people almost seemed to have a mid skip to their steps. Children skipped a head with laughter in their mouths and bodies full of energy, adding more to the green.

Children clustered around the tall cylinder shaped building of steel and glass. It was designed by one of the city's best architects and funded by two prominent billionaires from New York. Resembling the famous leaning tower without the leaning part, it was dark gray with tall back tinted windows. The children were not interested in the building, but the speaker standing in front of it. They had raced towards the triple automatic doors when the metallic figure stepped out.

"Mr. Talos!" One of the smaller boys stood in front of the group and jumped up and down. "Have you seen Star Wars? What do you think of C3PO?"

"That was stupid," another boy stepped in front of him and shoved him back a few inches. "He wants real questions."

"His questions were real." Helmed out of a bright golden metal and shaped to resemble the figure of a Roman soldier, Talos stood at seven feet. His optical receptors resembled a pair of flash lights, and his automated voice was soft and reassuring. "And they were not stupid." He held out a metal hand to the small boy and brought him forward. "Your cinematic theater is quite entertaining and the Star Wars movies are very enjoyable. The character you speak of is a bit worrisome but he is good and noble."

"What are you made of?" A little girl was the first to raise her hand.

"Parts of me are made out of copper and bronze. I have parts made of a hard glass like substance that is very hard to pronounce. You can call it diamond glass. There are two other metals. One is called Arlinium and it is like titanium. The other is a mix of various metals: Kalycent."

"Who made you?" The boy who pushed the smaller one was the third to ask.

"I was constructed by a team of scientists in New Olympus over two thousand years ago." his audible sensors picked up several deep inhalations and a few "wows" and "cools". Several hands shot up. "I suppose you would like to hear about when I was created and all I saw over the years."

"Yeah!" nearly all of them answered in unison and nodded

"This may take a while," He addressed the parents standing back away from the children. "Perhaps we can meet again each day for a thirty minute story time." The groups of parents either shrugged or nodded, or even did both. "We should begin now. There are a few benches inside you can sit on and your parents can wait inside. It is much cooler than out here." He stepped insde through the glass doors and was immediatly followed by the children. The parents followed them inside into the hard tileed floors of hte lobby. Talos was correct. It was much cooler inside.

* * *

The news of Talos's extended kindness carried through out the building and did not take long to reach the ears of the young woman in charge of meetings between the people from the hidden island and the humans of the city. Golden brown hands covered with tiny pebble like scales were placed on the keyboard as bird like talons tapped against the keys. Oval shaped eyes of a liquid gold stared at the screen and read the dates of the upcoming meetings. Antiope had scheduled meetings with the city's mayor, a few representatives and the dean for Georgetown university.

"Hey Antiope, Blake," one of the new interns stuck his head in the office of both Antiope and Dt. Edward's. "Talos is now a story teller."

"Pardon?" She removed her gaze from the screen.

"He's on the first floor telling stories about your nation's past to a handful of tots."

"He's awfully sweet to do that." She returned to her typing and did not pause to look back at him.

"Not to mention great PR" The intern stepped out of the office, no doubt to knock on a few doors to spread more of the latest gossip.

"It doess ssound a trite adorable." The man she shared the office with massaged the scaled temples around his pale yellow eyes. Unlike Antiope who only had hard beady scales on her hands and legs he was covered with flat leather like scales. His bald head ended in a snake like snout complete with tiny pits near his nostrils and a gap in his upper mouth for his forked tongue to slide out. "And it will be good for you and the otherss from New Olympuss."

"You almost wish you had thought of it?" She had grown accustomed to the snake-man's seeking for approval from his coworkers. She was told he was a lot worse at it before a brave task had caused him to be bitten by a two headed cobra demon and turned him into his present form.

"You would think after all that digging thiss would be a lot eassier," he was dressed like any other of the human employees. His grayish blue suit jacket was draped across the back of his chair and the sleeves of his white shirt, pinstriped with silver, was rolled to his elbows. He did not wear a necktie but a necklace of several runes hanging form a chain, wards to keep the demon that transformed him from calling to him if it ever awoke.

"Things have been hard for all of us." She saved her work. After she had proofread it till it was what she deemed perfect she would print out a few copies and send a few others to her supervisors.

"Guesss what I jusst ressieved in my inbox," Edwards sat up and used the mouse to click on his new mail folder. "Little misss sssecret."

"Is it the usual?"

He nodded. "Same ass alwayss. Sshe iss not staying in town for a long. Sshe thinkss I am an interessting individual."

"Has she set up a meeting date?"

"Pardon?" Despite his serpentine appearance he had eyelids and demonstrated the little fact by blinking twice.

"Does she want to meet you? She has mentioned in her past letter she has seen you."

"No ssuch ssuggesstion hass been written." He closed his inbox and broguht up his workscreen.

"Perhaps you can ask her to meet with you."

"I'll drop her a ssuggesstion," he reopened the window to his e-mail. "Unless sshe could be using me as a trap to get to you guyss."

"For a former human you are very suspicious of your old species."

"I sstill think like them."

"I'll leave you and your e-mail alone." she rose from her seat. "I'm going to the store." She was going to need a few things before she could go. She needed her sundress that was long enough to cover her feathered wings when she folded them across her shoulders and her slender bird like legs. And she was going to need her specially made shoes for her three toed' feet with the curved talons of a hawk.

* * *

Antiope glanced at the round pin on button she received from P.I.T when she filled out a few forms. It was nice gift, even if she did not expect it. She tried to ignore the entrance with the newspaper boxes posted in front. She did not need to read about how five bodies were found near the Smithsonian. The harpy took the entrance near occupied by tables with the members of P.I.T

Antiope selected one of the small plastic baskets with the wire like handle instead of a large wheeled cart. She did not need something that big for her small amount of groceries. She quickly filled the bottom with a box of cereal, a six pack of root beer a loaf of bread, bottle of vanilla extract and a package of Oreos. She stopped by the seafood department picked up a pound of talapia wrapped in thick white paper before she ventured to produce and bought a half pound of figs. While she could not cook her favorite dessert she had friends who could..

Things were different when Antiope stepped out. The cheerful represantives from P.I.T were worried. They had their hands gripped firmly onto the edge of the table. A few of them tried to ignore the new commotion that had gathered near the store and tried to take down more names and hand out buttons.

"We don't want these freaks around," the sturdy man in front of the new group raised his fists. He was dressed in a bright orange shirt and kahki pants. A pair of Raybans was placed across his face with the bridge nestled across his thick nose. His cleft chin was devoid of any stubble and he kept his slick brown hair tied back into a short ponytail. "As fellow human beings we must ally ourselves together to keep these beasts from infiltrating our society and destroying us."

"You sound like you came from a history book," an African American woman in her late thirties handed two of the buttons to her children. She was given an extra one when the P.I.T people saw her son and daughter. "You sound just like the anti segregationists my parents told me about." She grabbed the hands of her children and lead them into the store.

"This is not like when we were in a time of stupidity," there were seven people behind the speaker. Two were holding up signs. One had the message of "H.A.M. will protect us" and the other Humans Against Monstrosity. "These creatures along with gargoyles cannot live alongside us humans in peace. They will try to find a way to shift the tides of power and turn us into slaves, or try to destroy us."

"You are still acting like an idiot." one of the female members of P.I.T stepped out from behind her table. She had a figure like a reed, hardly any breasts or a bottom, slender limbs. Her hair was cut short almost a bob with the ends spiked. She had green streaks placed into the hair and a silver stud in her nose. She wore shorts with the ends frayed, a black long sleeved mesh top over a dark green tank and a pair of fish net stockings. "Go out and find one of your own private forums. Leave us alone."

"You are a bit of a misguided fool." He pushed her back. One of his groupies raced up to the table on the far left side and swept off the forms and a box full of buttons. "All of you who try to stick up for the beasts are. You do not understand they are only pretending to be your friend. Trying to make us believe they want to live side by side with us peacefully."

"You have proof the New Olympians and the humans can't?" Antiope had reached her breaking point at the sight of a few papers flying in the breeze while one member of P.I.T and a kind shopper raced after them in the breeze. She could hold back on her words no longer. "I have yet to hear anything about humans being attacked by New Olympians."

"We are trying to make sure that will never happen." He shoved past the punkish P.I.T member and approached her. "There has been records in New York on about gargoyles attacking humans."

"If you had clearly checked your records you would have noted those who were attacked were thieves and criminals." Antiope felt the plastic of the bag containing the soda , extract and cereal dig into her gloves. There were a few voices of opposition when the New Olympians had first introduced themselves to the citizens of D.C, but there was never a hate group organization.

"There had been a few cases in the past when a gargoyle attacked a human for no reason." He reached out to grab a few strands of her hair. He was feeling for how thick and soft each strand was. "A group even attacked a police station."

"They have been proven innocent." She tried to step away from him, but he had grabbed her by her shoulder. "Those responsible had even confessed."

"I still believe someone set them up." He grabbed along her shoulder and examined her face, staring into her odd colored eyes. "I feel wings. You are one of them." He pulled her to his chest. The groceries she had been carrying fell to the ground.

"Let her go," the punk member of P.I. T grabbed onto his arm, only to be shaken off. "She didn't do anything." More members of P.IT launched themselves at the leader of H.A.M only to have his cronies block them off. One of the bystanders had pulled out a cell phone.

"You cannot tell where these mistakes of nature lurk, and sometimes what yout thought was human was actually one of them." The leader of H.A.M pinned Antiopes arms to her chest with one arm. "But we will show who they are." He reached for the bottom of her dress with his free hand.

The fist seemed to have shot forward like an arrow. Cold knuckles impacted with the side of his jaw. Antiope slipped from the leader's arms and onto the ground where she found her shoes that have been kicked off during the struggle.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it was not nice to grab a woman like that." The man with the fist stood at a few inches over six feet. His arms had a bit of muscle, a few bulges on his upper arms. There was a distinctive dimple in his chin. He chose to dress almost simple. A pair of tan boots, blue jeans and a black cotton shirt. Antiope could not tell what his hair or eye color was. He wore a silver hat that completely covered his head and a pair of sunglasses.

"That beast is no lady," the leader of the H.A.M group rubbed the side of his jaw. It had already began to swell.

"And you are no gentlemen," the stranger held out a hand for Antiope. The southern accent in his voice grew stronger "I suggest you take your group of misfits and leave. There are a few people here who are already alerting the authorities."

The dark haired man opened his mouth to protest and quickly shut it when no words came to mid." It's not worth it." He walked away from the crowd, leading his flunkies along with him.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," the stranger bent down to pick up Antiopes dropped groceries. "Are you hurt?"

"I may of had my dignity bruised." She reached out to take back her bags.

"You are not ashamed of what you are?"

"I'm never ashamed. It was bruised when he held me. I thought I was stronger."

"You were stronger. You did not try to use physical force to get your point across." He was about to hand her back both bags but paused. "Do you need any help carrying your things back to your home?"

"I can manage," she took the plastic bag and noticed he was smiling. "You are offering to carry one?"

"I'll do more. I'll treat you to a cup of iced coffee. All I ask in payment is the knowledge of your name."

"It is Antiope," she let him hold onto the paper bag. "I appreciate your offer, but I do not want to go inside."

"There are plenty of coffee houses where you can order from outside and continue on your way." He did not loose his smile. "You can call me Chris."

* * *

The room was cramped with all of them sharing it and all the items they had packed for their trip. It also had a peculiar odor. They were not used to the scent of wet cement and fresh paint. Their streets were built out of a different stone like material and their paint was spray on and dried almost instantly. There were a few pleasant fragrances from the grass and leaves and even a sweet fragrance from the flowers that made one of them sneeze.

The small, folding computer was one of the few sole possesions she brought with her on her trip. The red and white material the lap top was assembled from was years ahead of the computers she had seen the locals used. Her group ignored her files stored on the machine and used the web connection to learn more about the area they had took up residence in. They learned of certain address for both sites and e-mails.

_I am flattered you want to meet with me_. She typed along the keyboard. _I am not sure how to make this possible. I know you may have set up a time or place in your mind, but there are a few factors hindering me._

The loud laughter coming form the group brought her attention from the screen. She had been listening in on their conversation and cringed at some of the details. This was not what she had envisioned. She had hoped they would have changed when they began ther trip and stuck to the goal for finding a peaceful place to live. It seemed some of her friends had lost their sanity when they lost their positions.

I feel a small shame with the group I associate with. They are up to something. Something in which I cannot divulge the details to. This is part of the reason why I fear we can not quite meet.

* * *

Antiope was thankful she took up Chris's offer. She felt hot under the dress and the gloves and the cold vanilla flavored beverage cooled herself down. They had stopped at a tiny coffee house that was more of a booth and bought their beverages.

"You look like you were thirstier than you had thought," Chris had purchased a basic iced coffee for himself. There was no milk or flavoring, just ice and sugar.

"I really don't know how I can thank you properly." She had thought she would have had to juggle the drink and the bag. She noticed Chris did not sweat during their walk, even with the black shirt. His iced drink must have cooled him down.

"This is more than enough." They both neared the New Olympus Embassy. "This is where you work?"

"I set up meetings between the embassy and the city," the stepped onto the pathway leading towards the triple glass doors of the main entrance. "It's different from my old job on New Olympus. I was a member of security."

The parents who lingered around the lobby and their children had left. Talos had remained standing in the middle of the tiled floor, but he was clearly not alone. There was a small crowd gathered around them and from the movements of their mouths both she and Chris could tell they all in deep conversations.

"Trouble?" Chris pointed a the crowd with his elbow.

"There might be." She took a long drink, slurping up the remainders of her iced coffee before she threw the empty glass away. "I have to take it all from here." She reached for the paper bag. "There are guards inside. you can't quite see them and they will only let you in unless you are a New Olympian or if you have a pass."

"Please allow me to give you my number," he pulled out a small pen from his pocket and wrote out a small string of numbers on the side of the paper bag. "My full name is Chris O. Maeliron."

"I'll try to call you." She used her back to push open one of the doors and stepped inside.

"Antiope has returned," Talos was the first to seek out her feathery hair through out the sea of people.

"What is going on?" She studied the crowd. Most of them were human, including Terry Wong.. The young American seemed to have ditched his M.I.T jacket. He was one of the main four in charge of the embassy. The vice president to be exact. He was one of those Antiope set up meetings for. There were five people near the back who dressed in incognito like she did when she want out and the rest were New Olympians. There was another person she had remebered, a female she had not seen in a while. "Phaedra?"

"It's been a while." She stood on a pair of bovine hooves and was covered in a thin silvery white pelt. Her head was like that of a dairy cow's with a pair of short horns and a thick thatch of curly dark hair. She broke from her embrace of her mate and husband, Taros, to greet her. "I would love to embrace you but I do not want to crush your purchases."

"There is nothing fragile," Antiope took in Phaedra's attire. She was dressed in the white gown and blue robe of a senator. She even had a sash. "You have seemed to gain in rank."

"I believe this is why she and the five had Megara sail them here." A large hand placed itself across Phaedra's shoulder. The whole palm could cover Antiopes face and the fingers were thick as sausages. A deep voice rumbled out of the bull like muzzle. "There has been quite a bit of a disturbance on the island if I understood correctly what my wife has told us."

"What disturbance?" The occurrence at the store did not seem to matter. She could wait to relay the events of P.I.T, H.A.M, and Chris Maeliron.

Phaedra glanced into the eye of her husband before taking a deep breath. "There was a coup on the island. Most of the senate was murdered and Boreas was badly hurt. There was a take over by Keiron, Dryad, Ekidna and several others. Their new order was that humans were the enemy and those in the embassy were banished."

"They did not count on a resistance to quickly form," The tallest of the five in the back slid off his jacket made of several animal skins stitched together. He stood at an impressive height and build. A tunic made of snake skin stretched across his bulging tan pectorals and rippled abbs. He wore a small chest plate of a turtle shell across his sternum and shoulder pads constructed out of animals bones. He wore no other armor and he did not appear as if he needed any more. His arms were thicker than Antiope's body with rock hard muscle.

"I believe she as about to get to that, Bellum." Tauros glared at him.

"Didn't want to worry her too much," Bellum's thin lips were pursed into a scowl under his cannon shaped nose and above his heavy jaw. He had no hair except for a strip of short and fine hairs down the length of this skull and a small handful near the back he had gathered into a ponytail.

"I'm not too worried," Antiope watched the two of them. Even back on the island the Taurus and the Titan did not get along well with each other. Taurus has always felt Bellum was too gun ho, as the humans would say. Bellum disliked Taurus the second he was rejected from joining the security team. "Unless Proteus managed to escape."

"He still locked up," Bellum rubbed his large hands together. They were even bigger than Taurus's and could crush a cinderblock in a single squeeze. Antiope was certain she saw sparks jump from them as he rubbed. "That was the first thing we did before we planned our attack."

"To appease Taurus could you allow Phaedra to finish the story, fearless leader?" His second only came up to his chest. The lizard woman was slim where he was thick. She had high cheek bones and dark circles under her eyes. Oily black hair was combed back stick straight. She almost appeared skeletal but that was because of her armor covering her arms chest and legs. The armor on her limbs was like a second skeleton that matched the greenish gray of her skin.

"I can finish this myself and thank you, Fames," As Phaedra addressed the slender woman Famine turned her staff toppled with a paddle upside down and leaned on it. "Bellum and his group led a resistance and attacked the coup. Order was quickly restored."

"What happened to the Coup?" Antiope wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answers.

"Some were killed during the second minor war. Others surrendered and were willing to live the way before the coup and others fled."

"Which brings us here," Bellum pointed at himself with his thumbs curled like meathooks. He took one look at his second as she held up a hand and quickly quieted down.

"There has been a new council," Phaedra looked straight ahead at the third man in the room standing on a pair of cloven hooves. From waist down he was covered with long shaggy hair and waist up he looked human. "I have been elected back to the council. Scorpius and Lamia who also survived have been elected back. Silenus you are still part of the council and we want you to head the senate until Boreas has fully recovered."

"To head the council would be a great task," Silenas lowered his head. Dark hair hung to near shoulder length and was broken through by a pair of spiral horns. "It means I can not be both here and at the Senate."

"It also means you will be closer to Megara," Antiope's response earned a smile from the Satyr.

"It is a great task, but if the people had elected me then so be it."

"Don't forget it is only temporary," the smallest of the group reassured the Senator. He was almost childlike in appearance with a head full of bright curly hair and short body covered in baby fat. His plump cheeks took on a rosy glow whenever he smiled . He not a child but an adult man, a man with a pair of feathery wings on his back. "I'll keep everyone in line while you are gone."

"I have no doubt you will, Morpheus" Silenus placed a hand on the smaller man's shoulder.

"I have one question," the woman standing closest to Terry spoke up. Her pointed ears were up and alert and her slender feline tail flicked back and forth. Like Antiope, and Morpheous she had wings. "If the main purpose for this trip is to tell us the news and bring Silenus back home then why did The Five come?"

"Thank you for addressing us," Bellum didn't even look to his second to see if it was a good time to talk. "We think some of the opposition may have come here. We don't know which ones have come to this city. Over thirty have left and we have learned they have broke into factions to look for a new home."

"You think there is a possibility they may have come here?" Antiope stared at the three members of the Five who did not speak. The male had to keep his hood off his head, less the purple flames on his head would have frozen or burned it, depending on his mood. The two women were both pale in color. One stood at five feet five and the other was clearly a foot taller.

"One not inhabited by humans," Morpheus figured. "They wouldn't come here if they were looking for a new homeland."

"I'm sorry to break away," Antiope juggled her groceries, switching arms. "I had a bit of a trying day myself and I need to put these away and proofread the my notes for the meetings." She approached one of the nearest elevators. She will tell them about her day later once everyone had settled and returned to the top floor where their living quarters was located.

* * *

If only she knew who he realy was. If only everyone in the embassy knew who he truly was. The thoughts repeated themselves inside Chris's Maeliron's head as soon as he left the embassy. He was not ready to let them know who he truly was. Crhis even applied a fake chin over his real one and adopted an accent. He put those thoughts aside as soon as he entered the video rental store where he worked. It was easy to blend in to the crowd when he arrived in the city. He got a job and answered an add from a couple of guys looking for a third room mate.

Chris worked the closing shift and was usualy the one who locked up at night. He didn't mind walking to his apartment in the dark. He may blend too well into he darkness with his cloths but his hat reflected anything, especially the light of the moon. He stared up at the half sphere, admiring the beauty of it. The winged shape flying across it caught him completely off guard.

"That was no gargoyle," he raced after it in the direction the creature flew. It was hard for him to make out the creature in the dark and strained his eyes to pick up her flapping wings. It clearly wasn't a gargoyle. They glide, not fly.

Chris followed the creature into an alley and found himself facing the brick wall of a dead end. The creature had alluded him.

An arrow shot straight down from above and missed Chris's feet by a half inch. "Do you know why they call them dead ends right?" The voice above was almost whisper and deep.

"Who are you?" Chris stared straight up. The lights on the buildings corner cast a glow around the outline of a strange man. "What do you want?"

"They are called dead ends because you may end up dead at them," the silhouette raised his arm. "Do not follow us, human." He fired another arrow. This time it landed on Chris's other side.

"What do you want?" The third arrow was not aimed straight down but at an angle. Chris felt the wind resistance as it flew past him. "I see you have made your point."

* * *

The aroma of eggs and pork sausage frying greeted Antiope's nose before she entered the kitchen. She was dressed for another day of work. Her semi dry hair hung limply down her back and she did not feel fully awake. She did not even notice the cup of coffee until it was placed into hand.

"They told me you took it strong with cream and a spoon of sugar." He reminded her of her former love only by his glowing eyes and his hair of flames flickering back and forth. There were two tribes of Mercurians. The first had hair of red, orange and gold. They hurled balls of fire. The second had blue flames tinted silver and white. They hurled ice cold energy. The man standing before the harpy had parents from both tribes. His flames were purple that descended into a grayish pink and pale yellowish white.

"Pestilence, thanks." She took a long drink from her cup. She felt the liquid travel down her body. "Whats for breakfast?"

"Eggs, sausage and something called waffles." He pointed to the kitchen where Terry and a pale woman with dark blue hair were both holding skillets over the stove. "We also had a box of something called baked goods, but Fames had intercepted it."

"I'm not surprised," Antiope stared at the table Fames occupied. Without her armor she could see the muscle tone on her arms. Before she joined Bellum's group she was an athlete who competed in games. The weapon she weilded had once been the sport stick she used in her sporting event.. A half eaten box of Dunkin Donuts lay before her and a round donut was in her hand. Beneath her nostrils was a ring of powdered sugar. A small dab of chocolate decorated the corner of her mouth. "I'm surprised she doesn't gain any weight with all that she eats."

"I have to try one of each," Fames bit into the pastry. A glob of red jelly oozed out of the whole it was injected in and dribbled down her chin.

"I better grab my favorite," Antiope selected a bare claw and sat down at the table occupied by the waif like member of Bellum's group. "Is this seat taken?"

The pale girl took another bite of her waffles and gave the harpy a strange look. Everyone knew she was Proteus's sister. They had the same smile, if she had ever smiled and had almost the same hair style except hers was longer. Her eyes were far larger than her brothers and framed by thick lashes.

"Relax, Mortis. Did you manage to take a donut"

Mortis held up a half eaten bavarian creme and forced her mouth to smile. Her large eyes were like glass. More like shattered glass considering all that she saw.

"It's kind of good Taurus left with the others. There won't be too many conflicts between Taurus and Bellum."

Again Mortis stared blankly before she shrugged.

"Thiss doess not look well," Dr. Edwards had paused by one of the windows between the kitchen and the tables and chairs. "Lookss thingss are getting ugly out there."

"Let me see," Antiope had set her bear claw on top of a paper napkin before she joined the crowd gathering in front of the window. She stared down at the two crowds gathered on the sidewalk in front of the embassy. One was clearly larger than the other. "What is going on?"

"It lookss like a riot," Edward's answered while the phone in the kitchen rang. "I have seen far too many of them."

"Don't tell me it's those idiots from yesterday," Antiope frowned. Their was only one group who could have protested the embassy. She didn't know which group was H.A.M They both were standing far apart from each other.

"I'm hoping the friendly group you also encountered is the bigger one," Morpheus had to pulled himself up to the sill so he could look out.

"More people seemed to be on the P.I.T side."

"We have bigger problems," Sphinx had left the group to answer the phone. "The police want to talk to us."

"Why do we need to speak with your local authorities?" Fames did not go to the window with the others. She finished her jelly donut and entered the kitchen.

"There has been another murder and they want to talk with us." Sphinx cradled the phone in her hands.

"I should go down," Terry placed a few more sausages onto the large plate only to have four of them swiped by Fames. She had taken three waffles and three eggs.

"What about everyone's breakfast?" the winged cat girl asked.

"I will take care of it," the ivory-skinned woman cracked a few more eggs over her skillet. Her dark blue hair that usual hung freely in a long cloud like mass past her shoulders was tied back. She was a few inches shorter than Bellum but did not have near the same amount of muscles

"Thank you," Terry paused to try to remember her name. "It's Nemesis right?"

"That is correct." She broke open a few more eggs over the buttered pan.

* * *

Sphinx had thought the whole lobby would have been filled with police officers and was somewhat relieved to see only four, two men and two women. Her fears returned to her when she heard Terry suck in her breath.

"Is something wrong, officer?" Terry was the first to address the cops." My name is Terrence Wong I'm the vice president of the New Olympian Embassy."

"We are sorry to be doing this." The tallest of the police offers shook Terry's hand. "I'm sure you have read about the murders found near Georgetown?"

"I've read about thoes five pulled out of the river." Terry nodded. He did not like the way the cops were staring at Sphinx.

"There are nine now."

"You won't mind if we take your finger prints." One of the two female officers was staring directly at Sphinx. "We believe the murderers might be one of you."

"Wait a minute," Terry held up a hand. "Don't you need something like warrant, and don't you have people go down to the precent to do finger printing?"

"I have the form," the tall officer pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Terry. "And in this case I think it might be better if it was done here. The creatures here may object to traveling to the precent at once."

"We prefer the term New Olympian or possibly Citizen." Sphinx answered curtly. She studied Terry's expression and once he nodded she held out her hands. "You may."

"I want to know about the evidence you found that points to the Embassy," Terry crossed his arms.

"One of the victims had been trampled on and was covered in hoof prints. Another had their throat cut out. The third was flayed with arrows."

"Silenus and Taurus had returned to New Olympus," Sphinx felt her fingers dampen as she pressed them against the ink pad. "They had hooves like a goat and a bull."

"Are they the only ones with hooves?" The short female officer pressed each of Antiope's fingers against the paper.

"The only ones."

"You might be off the hook," the female officer offered a smile. "The hoofprints were those off a horse and deer."

"Oh," Antiope had a sinking suspicion of who did the trampling. The arrows she was not too sure about. There were several titans who sternly opposed the union between human and New Olympians.

"Sir," the third officer, younger and chubbier than the others pointed to the triple doors where the African-American officer was talking to a young man wearing a pair of sunglasses and a strange hat. "He claims to have seen the murderer last night."

"Is it all right if we let him in?" The tall cop did not look at the security team, but rather into Terry's eyes.

"Let him in," the stranger's choice of eyewear and hat reminded him of the description Antiope gave of Chris.

Chris had raced to the embassy the second he had heard about the murders and the possible accusations of a New Olympian on the radio. He shoved his way through the still small H.A.M crowd and the large crowd of P.I.T. The leader of the hate group remembered him from the previous day and threatened to sue him while the members of P.I.T applauded him and were willing to pool together money for a lawyer.

He thought he had first seen Antiope when he neared the building but caught sight of the girl's hair color,tail and pointed ears and knew she was Sphinx. He couldn't let her know he knew who they all were. The second person he saw was Terry followed by the four cops and several members of security.

"You actually saw what the murdeerr looked like?" The chubby officer had set him down on one of the chairs while the black woman stood guard.

"I saw the outline of him," Chris stared at Sphinx as she left the other female officer to go wash her hands in the first floor ladies room. "I was in an alley and he was on top of the building in front of me. There was not much lights so he appeared as a silhouette."

"Didn't actually see his face?"

"He looked like a tall human," Chris nearly lost his accent in his growl.

"What were you doing in the alley?"

"I just finished my shift at Video Emporium and was walking to my apartment. I thought I saw something and raced after it. The next thing I knew I was in an alley with a dead end."

"And this was when you saw the murderer?"

"That was when he fired an arrow and it landed inches away from me," Chris sat up. "There should be at least three in there. I could give you the address."

"We would appreciate that very much." The officer slid out of his seat and waddled to the others who were congealing near the doors.

"Is what you told them confidential or you could you tell me?" Terry slid into the seat the fat officer had occupied.

"I just told them I saw the murder's outline, he looked human and he left some evidence for them to clean up." Chris could tell Terry was either judging him or trying to figure him out. "I'm only staying here for a few minutes."

"Why did you come?" Terry's tone was not sharp or accusing him of anything.

"To see Antiope, she called me last night," he rose to his feet. "I sse that nowis not a good time to visit. Please tell her that I stopped by."

"I will," Terry answered.

* * *

It was only a short walk between the bar and the apartments for the four friends. Three of them were still sober enough to walk in a straight line, but the fourth was staggering. His dark hair was starting to get long. If he ran his fingers though the locks his fingers would brush against his shoulders. He let out a loud call that sounded like a cross between an owl and a rooster.

"Are you a complete idiot?" The other man grabbed onto the shoulders of his friend. His hair was half as long as the drunken youth and was lighter in color, a shade of chocolate brown.

"What do you mean?" the drunk man's glassy eyes struggled to stay fixed on his friend.

"You are making too much noise," one of the women kept looking around them with eyes outlined in black. Her hairstyle appeared more hacked than cut and dressed in tight cloths. Her voice had rough edge to it, like sandpaper. "There is a murderer out there."

"Woo a big time killer," the drunken one ran his hands through his hair. His fingers came in contact with a dangling gold earring.

"You are going to shut up if I have to make you," the sober male exhaled through nostrils that were too large for his nose.

"Can we not stand out here and talk?" the fourth member of the group appeared to huddle in the place where she was standing. She was dressed in the same conservative style attire as Sober and had her light brown hair styled into a braid.

"You try to keep your mouth shut," Sober jabbed his finger into Drunk's face. "We are going home. No more interruptions, and no more stalling." He turned back to the women only to see Braid fly towards him. Her body skipped across the asphalt before rolling to a strop.

"Corey!" Sober was by Braid's side before the other girl finished screaming. He gently touched her arm. She was out cold but she was still breathing.

Badhair screamed again and ran from them. She only made it a few feet before someone swooped down and picked her up.

"What the fuck?" Sober stood up and ran into the direction Badhair was taken. Drunk was no help. He was too inhibereated to do anything but sit on the ground and utter a string of expletives.

He stopped at the sound of hoofs clopping against the ground and turned around to see a woman riding a horse. It was the last thing he saw when he felt the hooves against his own chest.

"Shit man, shit man , shit," Drunk rocked himself back and forth. One friend was knocked out, one was abducted, and the third was being trampled to death. "Call 911. I can call 911." He fumbled to pull out his phone and struggled to get his eyes to focus long enough to press the numbers.

"911 what is your emergency?"

"My friends are in trouble. They are being kicked around by hooves."

"Hooves sir?" the operator sounded bewildered.

"Yea," he tried to stand up. A body fell from the sky and landed a few inches in front of him. It was Badhair. "Shit man. Deb just fell in front of me."

"Is she hurt?"

"I think so She isn't moving." He kept staring up at where she could have possibly fallen from. He thought he had seen an angel at first, but the angel's hair was tangled and she had a wild look in her eyes. Her legs appeared to have been covered in hair, no it was more like long shaggy fur and she had a long reptilian tail. "Oh shit it's coming for me."

"What is coming?"

"The weird angel thing that killed Deb." He never removed his eyes from the winged creature even when another winged creature glided in front of it too intercept it. The second winged creature looked more like a demon than an angel with it's green skin, and bat shaped wings.

"There is another angel thing," he couldn't remove his gaze at the green creature. The sides of her head were devoid of her silvery white hair and long horns curled back over her had. She was dresed in a gray gown with a split in the back for her long tail.

* * *

The five broke down into teams of two and three to patrol through out the city. Bellum had ordered both groups to travel through a place called Georgetown, where the victims where found. What little they knew of the human world they had learned to look for patterns in the clues, and the location of the victims was the main pattern.

Fames was the first to hear the screams and raced across the building tops, leaping from edge to the other. Her legs were strong enough from her time with the five and the years she competed for medals. Her scaled toes made it easy for her feet to maintain her grip. She was able to arrive on the scene first, in time to see one of the humans carried off.

"Mortis and I shall bring down the abductor," Famine's partner stood a good foot and a half over her. Her dark air contrasted with her pale skin and matched the short dress she wore. She wore more armor than Bellum and unlike his, her's was made out of copper. The chest plate extended low enough to cover her midsection and her shoulder pads had an extension made of boiled leather to cover her upper arms.

Mortis's form changed a few times, from a harpy and satyre hybrid to the image of one of the human bodies that was found in the river before she shifted back into her usual form. She took one look at at the winged creature in the sky and slowly changed her form. Her skin darkened to a forest green shade and wings with a single claw formed. Her hands and feet curled and twisted into talons and a long tail tore through the back of her gown. She had the same hair and facial featues as her usual form. Her tail had a smooth tip, pointed horns were on the top of her head..

"Good luck, Nemesis, Mortis" Fames quickly scaled down the side of the building. Nemesis may have a harder time to try to bring the enemy down but the titan had her resources. Famine felt her Laccroix stick was enough to fight the enemy. Nemesis carried a spear, but that was not enough for her. She was also armed with a bow and quiver, two swords, and a bola gun.

Fames did not think of Nemesis's arsenal, or Mortis's choice in forms as she ran up to the creature trampling the human. It had the torso, arms, and head of a human woman and her lower half was of the body of a deer. With one swing Famine brought the paddle part of her weapon against the back of the deer woman's head. It was not enough to knock her out, but enough to stop her in her tracks.

"Should have known one of the traitors would have tracked me down." She reached up to touch the back of hr head a she stepped over the body. Waves of fire gold fell around her tan shoulders and matched the color of her deer hide. "Didn't quite expect it to be one of the Usurpers."

"You are the traitors and usurpers," Fames felt her grip increase on her staff. "What drove you to go from senator to murder, Dryad?"

"We are the traitors?" Dryad scoffed the accusation as if famine had asked a stupid question. "We are not the ones who have forgotten the archived documents on how the humans treated our kind. We are not the ones to abandon the law."

"You abandoned the law when you and your coup murdered most of the senate."

"We did not abandon the law," Dryad kicked forward. Her hooves were seconds too short from hitting Fames. "We have only tried to uphold it."

"Uphold it?" Fames danced out of the way of the sharp cloven hooves and brought down her weapon. The centaur leaped back and tried to leap forward to kick her again. She glanced over at Nemesis and Mortis. The titan had fired her bola and a few arrows at the other traitor. Mortis waited until Nemesis paused before she tried to barell into the side of the flying creature. Fames watched as Nemesis grabbed something off her arm and threw it at the sky. It was no doubt one of her natraul knives. Like most titans, Nemesis was able to sweat out artillery. In her case knives formed on her skin.

"The law that states we are to stay away from humans and humans must be killed if they touch our land."

"That was never one of the original laws," Fames brought the blunt edge of the paddle into Dryad's side, lodging between her ribs. "That was one of your laws you brought in when you usurped the senate."

"We only took it back when they have lost their way," she was in pain but she took opportunity in Fames's victory and kicked her in the arm. Her hoof came in contact with the boney armor but she heard the lizard like woman wince out in pain.

"Didn't loose anything," Fames's weak voice was barely audible to herself. The wailing of sirens was not too far away. "We just learned."

"They are getting away!" bolts of half developed knives adorned Nemesis' arms like crystals that were glued on to her body.

"We have to retreat," Fames stared at the cracks on her arm band. Blood seeped through the clefts and began to bead against the smooth surface. Dryad did not break any of her real bones, but the force of the kick not only cracked her arm but a sent a piece inward, piercing her flesh. "Those sirens. Their local authorities are coming."

"We can't let them get away. We have to catch the murders." Nemesis raced after them, not even pausing to see if Fames was trying to keep up.

Fames inhaled deeply at the sound of the hooves and braced herself for Dryad preparing to attack. To her relief it was Mortis. The shapeshifter had altered her form to a ghostly white centaur. Fames raised her arms, and grabbed onto Mortis as the silent member of The Five picked her up and placed her on the horse like back.

* * *

Weaving hallucinations and illusions in the mind of the individual was the sole gift of Morpheous. All members of his tribe had the ability to perform a type of trick. He could create patterns unseen before and stimulate the mental receptors to view every color of the rainbow. He could not alter dreams and if he could, he would not use such an ability. How could he be able to sleep at night if he was responsible for warping people by rearranging their dreams.

His own dream, while he could not remember if he was asked, was shattered when the phone resting on the night stand next to his bed blared into his ear drum and tore through his mind. His body woke before his mind did and his hands flattered around to feel for the phone.

"Morpheus are you awake?" The voice on the other end belonged to Talos.

"I was until you called me," Morpheous didn't bother to try to hide his bitter tone, and his condition he probably sounded more weak and groggy than anything. The ancient automaton never needed to sleep. All he needed was on hour of mobile rest a day and two check ups to make sure his gears were running smoothly.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed your rest," Talos spoke in his most polite tone. "We have a small emergency."

"Emergency?" He placed his legs over the side of the bed. He felt the bottoms of his feet striking the ground. "Have you called the others?"

"I do not wish to wake everyone. I have been informed Fames is in the medical room and Nemesis has been arrested"

'Lucky me,' Morpheus thought as he wandered over to his wardrobe. "How badly hurt?"

"Her armor has been cracked and she is bleeding."

"I'll be right there." He hung up and slipped himself into his pants and shirt. He didn't mind the fact all of his clothes were from the children's department, as long as it fit he would not complain.

"Are you certain you do not need any pain killers?" The nurse had never treated a member of the New Olympian race with skin like a reptile before. She had signed on for the night shift and almost wish she hadn't. The New Olympians were like humans in a lot of ways, and one way was that most of them were asleep at night.

"As a member of The Five I do not need any pain killers," Fames's eyes were dark slits.. She had her arm band removed on her way back to the Embassy. The others had yet to return. Only Talos had greeted her and Mortis and lead them to the medical room. Fames had told morti she could go to sleep, but the shapeshifter decided to stay by her side until Fames's wounds were healed. The cut in her arm was not long or wide, but it was deep. "I also do not have time to bleed."

"I get it, Xena." the nurse drenched a cotton ball in alcohol,. "You are great warrior and are too tough."

"My name is Fames." She normally would not have been that rude to anyone, especial those who were trying to help her, but after what she had been through she was quite irritable. She was furious with Dryad. She was also angry with Bellum who decided they should have split up to go hunting and not wait to see if the others wanted to join him. She was angry with Nemesis who was so persistent in chasing down after Dryad and Chimera she did not think twice about the sirens and ran straight into the police's handcuffs.

"I gottcha," the nurse blotted the antibacterial solution around the wound. "The doctor will stitch you up. Doesn't look like it will be much."

"I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"I understand shit like this happens"

The nurse was correct. The stitching process was swift. She had only needed five and she tried not to cringe through the whole pores. When it was complete. The doctor taped a bit of gauss to her arm. She was only alone for a minute after he had left.

"What were you thinking you were doing out there?" Morpheus flew to her in such an abrupt manner she had to wonder if he was drunk or sick. "We cannot attract attention right now with the murders going on and some of the public already accusing us."

She did not want to deal with his bitter tone. "We of The Five follow the commands of Bellum and he instructed us to patrol."

"What were you patrolling for?" Morpheus landed on the floor a few inches from her. Crescent moons of grayish purple hung below each eye.

"The ones we came here to seek," she headed her tone. She could understand why the Cherub could have been irate. She was not the most pleasant person to be with when she did not receive enough sleep. "Those who left the island and did not seek a new home."

"And instead you found chaos," he pointed at her bandaged arm.

"Correction. We found what we were looking for and more. The usurpers are responsible for the murders of the humans. I wounded myself fighting one of them and Nemesis was incessant we chase after them. I choose not to be a fool."

"You did?" he blinked. His pupils seemed to have swollen twice their since when his lids rose back up. "Who were they?"

"Dryad and Chimera."

"They have fallen so far," he sighed. "We have to call the police station ad let them know the truth."

"We need to do more," She rose to her feet. "We have to hunt them down."

* * *

Most people would buy flowers for their sick and injured friends from the gift shop, but not Drunk. He knew what Cory preferred and it wasn't flowers. Why have something pretty to look at for a few days before throwing them away was her reasoning. Why spend all that money when you could use it for something better, like chocolate?

After they were attacked and being saved by a lizard woman, a green angel, and an angel with blue hair the police and paramedics checked them out. Drunk had forgotten what he had said to them and remembered stumbling to his apartment before sheets and pillows. When he had awoken the sun was streaming in through the window and he felt like had a gremlin inside his head cutting through the soft gray parts with a chainsaw.

After a breakfast of stale Miniwheats out of the box, coffee and can of Del Monte fruit cup he called the hospital. He learned Deb was pronounced dead on arrival and Sober died on the way to the hospital. Corey was still alive and awake. The nurse told him he could visit Corey, but she was being interviewed by the police. He told it was cool because he was a witness to the attack and would have been dead if their rescuers hadn't arrived. He was going to leave the details out about the lizard woman, the demoness and the angel warrior.

"Hey," he greeted as soon as he stepped into her room. It was a blah white, and too white for his headache. The room seemed to a shine a light wherever he turned. The cop in the chair greeted with him with a frown.

"Hey," Corey greeted. She was sitting up in her hospitable bed that had an almond brown blanket, providing a decent contrast from all the white. She wore a pale blue hospital gown with tiny spots of darker shade. Her dark red hair hung in tangles around her face. He could not see any bandages on her. She did have several bruises on her one arm and side of the face where she landed.

"Make your hellos brief," the officer grunted. He kept his thick arms crossed and placed across his wide gut. Long joweles framed the side of his scowl.

"I'll try," Drunk felt his own eyes locked in with beady eyes of the cop. The man looked like a human bulldog and Drunk did not want to see if the cop acted like one.

"I brought you something," he held up the small gift he picked up on his way to the hospital. It was the size of a jewelry box and covered in gold paper.

"Godiva?" Corey smiled

"It was only four pieces," he shrugged. "It was all I could afford."

"As long as it's chocolate," she held out her hand and accepted the gift.

"How are you feeling?"

"I got a couple of bruised and cracked ribs. That is the worse of my condition."

"You said you were a witness?" The cop interrupted their exchange. He didn't stand up to speak with him."Do know who this woman on a horse might have been?"

"Wasn't really a woman on a horse," Drunk sat himself down on the other bed. There was no one occupying it and neither the cop nor Corey protested when he lowered his body. "It looked like on of those creatures that has a body of a horse, but instead of a head it had the torso of a woman. Had her chest and arms and a head. You know, one of those Centers."

"Centaur," the cop corrected. "Sounds like one of those freaks in that new embassy. We found hoof prints, but they were those of a deer and not a horse."

"I said it was like a centaur. It's legs looked too thin for a horse and instead of a tail that looked like it could have doubled for a wig it was short like a deer's tale."

"You also saw the creature that attacked your friend Deborah?"

"Deb," tears welled up in Coreys eyes and spilled out over her face, stinging her bruised cheek and chin as they traveled down and dripped onto the blanket. "Never had a chance." The salt water was pouring instead of trickling.

"Another freak, but with wings." Drunk picked up a handful of Kleenex and handed them over to Corey. She saturated the ends of the ball when she grabbed onto it. "She had a tail like the lizard woman but it was longer and thinner and her legs were really hairy. She was about to attack me when The angel showed up."

"This sounds like your deposition you gave last night. I doubt if you remembered."

"What did I say?" He gave both Corey and the officer a weak glance. He couldn't remember the last time he was that drunk. He should have kept his mouth shut. His friends might have been still aliv if he hadn't shot off his mouth.

"You went on about an angel with blue hair who fired arrows at the hairy legged woman, a winged demoness who attacked the flying freak and a lizard woman in armor fought the deer woman with a hockey stick. Then you had to add the angel was able to generate crystals and threw it at the hairy legged woman." He paused to take a breath. "Your description confirms with report from the freak. Looks like we let your Angel to go free."

"You arrested her?" Drunk rose to his feet.

"She was a suspect and found on the scene. We are going to let her go free."

"You are going to go after the deer woman and the flying one?"

"Don't worry," He wrote out the final line of his report.

* * *

"Irresponsible," Morpheous flew up to meet Bellum in the eyes. "We can not go off on your irresponsible hunts because you feel you had a score to settle." Bellum and Pestilence returned to the embassy before dawn and slept for most of the day. When the titan had awoke he announced that everyone was going to go look for the usurpers.

"You are beginning to sound just like Taurus," the leader of the Five folded his arms. He did not add the fact the Tarusine was a lot taller than him. "Don't forget how often we did not listen to him."

"And I will not ignore the fact he had temporarily imprisoned you when you disobeyed his orders." The Cherub did his best to fold his arms. The constant flapping of his wings made him look ridiculous.

"Bellum, now is not the time to make war amongst ourselves," Fames touched the side of the titan. Even if she stood on her toes she would not have been able to put her hand on his shoulder.

"We are not getting things done by waiting," He stepped away from her and looked over the crowd. His entire team was present, including Nemesis. She was released a few hours before and had an irritable look on her face. "Our enemies are still hiding out there. Waiting for sunset to prey on the innocent."

"He sounds like a cartoon super hero," Terry kept his voice low enough for only Sphinx to hear. "His dialogue is so corny."

"Nothing has changed," Sphinx's tail flickered to the side "He has always had to be the hero. Morpheus is the one who is acting erraticly."

"He was roused out of his sleep around two in the morning, and not us."

"No one is going on one of your missions," Morpheus stared deep in t he eyes of the Titan. "And if you ask me if I can make you the answer is yes."

"We are going out there," Sphinx spoke out loud, hoping to diffuse the tension set up between bolor and the Cherub. "I am the leader of the Embassy and I have already made arraignments to the police. We will divide in teams and accompany the cops in Georgetown."

"You are serious?" Morpheous had turned around so fast he lost his equilibrium and fought hard to reclaim it.

"Please don't try to speak for me," she approached the center of the room, hoping she would be loud and clear to everyone. "I have asked Antiope to set up arrangements between us and the police hours ago. We are waiting for them before we go out."

"Do we have to be accompanied by the local authorities," Nemesis did not look into the eyes of Sphinx. She was rubbing her wrists, still sore form the handcuffs.

"To avoid what happened last night," Sphinx finished the affirmation with a nod.

"I must decline," Nemesis did not look at Sphinx but rather her group leader. "I am still embarrassed from what happened and I did not receive enough sleep. Please, Bellum, you must understand."

"I do," Bellum glanced over to his second. "Do you wish to stay behind? I would be concerned about your fighting skills and would not be able to think clearly."

"If it concerns you that much, Fearless leader." Fames glowered at her wounded arm and stepped back away from the team. "I shall sit it out"

"We need to decide who stays and who goes." Bellum turned to the crowd. He did not believe in forcing anyone to fight if they did not want to. It was the reason why his team was made of volunteers only. After a few tests he would accept a new team member. "I believe we know who else wants to stay." His voice was directed towards Morpheus.

"I hate to disappoint you, but I'm going." He nodded towards Sphinx. "I am not against any plan, as long as it is well thought out."

"So who is going?" Nearly everone save for both Famine and Nemesis had their hands raised.

Antiope held her us up after the others had lowered them. "Dr. Edward's won't be with us. He is on his own private mission."

"Did he say where is going?" Sphinx asked

"He is going to meet with his secret admirer," she couldn't help but to smile. It was her prodding that convinced the former human to insist on meeting with the woman who kept sending him e-mails.

* * *

It was a blessing his body did not transform far more than outside appearance. The heat would have been even more unbearable than it already was if his blood had gone through a complete temperature shift from warm to cold. At most it was uncomfortable, and the discomfort was amplified by the long sleeved shirt he wore. A large hat was placed on top of his head. He knew it would do little to disguise his face if someone gave him a good stare.

"Letss ssee if thiss iss the plasse," he held up the scrap of paper he tore from the note pad. "Between the Locker Garden sstorage facility and the Cracker Barrel." He stared up at he two illuminated signs. He was in the correct location. "Hello?"

"Don't move." The voice was indeed female, that removed one doubt from Edward's mind.

"Why not?" He felt himself starting to sweat. Another little detail he did not loose in his transformation.

"I want you to remove your hat."

"Hope you don't want me to completely sstrip," he grabbed onto his head. The cool breeze wafting over the top of his scales was more than welcome.

"I just want to see your face."

"Perhapss I may be able to ssee your fasse," he squinted his eyes in trying to seek out the woman from his letters. He could see a dark outline a fee feet away from him, hidden from all the lights. "I would like to learn more about you."

"I know you like to read, play chess and golf."

"You are interessted in poetry, asstronomy, and theater," he wanted to take a closer step to the woman, except he did not know if it was a trap and she did ask him to not move. "Thiss iss begging to ssound like a newsspaper dating add. Why won't you sshow your fasse?""

"You work in the Embassy. You would know who I am."

"Did you usse to work in the Embassy?"

"No," she slithered into view on dark green scales and a yellow segmented belly. She was covered with green skin and scales. From waist down she had the body of a serpent from up she had a humanaoid form. She had arms and a cobra hood with the edges covered in bright orange spines. "Now you can see who I am."

* * *

Terry's legs ached from his ankles all the way up to his lower back. His feet had been in pain for so long he could no longer feel them. How long have they been walking around? A quick check from his watch told him they were going around the blocks for two hours.

"Do you want me to carry you?" Talos had follow Terry while sticking mostly to the shadows. Antiope made the third part of the team and she was flying in wide circles above the buildings. It seemed simple at first. The squad car would park in a section of the neighborhood and Terry and his two companions would walk around the blocks surrounding the car. After they had combed the area the car would drive up a few blocks and they would start again.

"Thanks but no thanks," he brought the mouth of his bottle of water to his lips. He could at least satisfy his thirst. "I'm not going to look menacing with me in your arms like Scarlet O Hara."

"Do you wonder if the others have found anything?"

"No," he rubbed his back. His eyes were on the harpy as she landed next to him. "How are you holding up?"

"Exhausted," Antiope cloaked her wings across hr shoulders. "I can't fly another inch."

"I can't walk another inch," he had to sit down and didn't care if he parked his bottom on the cement. "Look at those guys." He pointed at the police car waiting for them on the curb on the next block up. "We are out here exhausting our legs off while they get to sit in their comfortable car seats with the A/C on and drinking their chilled Starbucks."

"It doesn't seem fair does it," Antiope sat down next to him. Her curled talons were placed on the curb. "If they can sit then so can we."

"I guess we can talk," he handed her the second bottle he brought along. She was in charge of carrying the communication devices that looked like a cross between a pocket watch and a cell phone. "What is the deal with The Five?"

"They are a vigilante group who feel their main purpose is to roam through New Olympus and protect the innocent," Talos answered helpfully. He chose not to sit and he did not need to drink anything.

"Bellum and Nemesis are both titans," Antiope explained after she had chugged from the bottle for a near minute. "As you can see they have the easiest time disguising themselves as humans. Most titans have the ability to sweat out artillery."

"Sweat out artillery?"

"Their sweat gathers into pools of certain shapes on their body before they harden. They look like they are made out of crystal but are hard as steel. Nemesis sweats out small throwing knives and Bellum can literally sweat out bullets."

"And the others?"

"Fames used to be an athlete. Her weapon and armor was modified from sporting equipment. She was made a team member because of her weapon skill, strength, speed and agility. Pestilence's is a Mecurian but because of his parents he can throw both fire and ice and increase and decrease the temperature."

"Mortis is Proteus's mute sister."

"She wasn't always mute. Proteus is older by ten years and he would drag his sister around on his murder spree. She saw everyone he killed."

Terry blinked at her words. He felt Proteus took delight in killing, but did he also take delight in having his sweet sister watch?"I knew he was sick but-"

"We have company," Talos pointed towards the figure approaching them. "I shall investigate while you rest."

'It's only one,' Terry watched as the autmaton strode over to the humanoid. If he was just an ordinary human Talos would instruct him or her to either go back home or to wait safely in the police car. If it wasn't Talos would be able to hold him down while Antiope helps and Terry lets both the others and the policemen know. To his surprise Talos lead the stranger to them.

"What is going on?" Terry tried not to appear to suspicious. It could have been Edwads afterall. The man was wearing a large silver hat and a pair of sunglasses.

"Chris?" Antiope rose to her feet. "What are you doing out here?"

"I just thought I could help?" The friendly human gave her a toothy grin and held up a small paper bag. "I brought some apples in case you were hungry."

"We appreciate the offer," Terry's mouth formed a weak smile. "We are working with the police to seek out some dangerous individuals."

"I still may be able to help. I believe can still be able to help."

"No offense," Terry held up his hands. "You don't exactly have the skills in dealing with this sort of group."

"He's as human as you are," Antiope did not like the rude behaivor Terry was displaying towrds her new friend.

"They are getting out of their car," Talos never stopped observing his surroundings. He was watching the car when both doors opened and the cops stepped out.

"Probably wondering why we are just sitting, or it might have something to do with Chris." Terry grimaced as he walked towards the car. The temporary rest only delayed the aches and pains that crippled his legs. "What's the matter boys did your air short out?"

"Shut up," the younger and thinner officer snapped.

"You have the problem with us sitting? Why don't you allow one of us to ride with you while you see what it's like out here?"

The young cop did not say anything, but had his weapon drawn. His partner: An African American man who had been on the force for at least ten years had walked towards the left, down the street.

"Is the heat too much for you to handle?" Terry was not going to stop until he was going to be right in the cops's face.

The cop gave him the look that reminded Terry of the time he was trying to study for finals and his friend insisted he go out and buy beer for the dorm. He had the same expression when he finally put on his headphones to block out his roomie's whining. The look did not last long on the cop's face. Surprise and pain replaced it before he dove for the ground. Three arrows were sticking out of his body. Two were on his back and one was on his shoulder.

"Guys!" Terry instantly felt a sharp pain on his arm. A fourth arrow was impaled in his flesh. It appeared as if it was carved out of crystal. He stared up, hoping to find who fired the arrow when he saw the other cop flying backwards.

* * *

The over powering scent of strong coffee had sliced through the air and dove starring into the nostrils of Sphinx. Even from far atop the Washington Mutual bank she could smell the coffee from the detective. She had never become accustomed to the caffenated beverage. Even with sugar and milk and the other ingredients to dock it up She hated the flavor. She would rather drink tea in the morning.

"The others are walking," Pestilence had opted to climb up to the top of the building. He created a ladder out of icicles and melted the frozen rungs after he had made it to the top. Sphinx had offered to carry him down. "Do they really drink that dark liquid all the time?"

"It contains a drug to stimulate the brain to stay awake," Sphinx stretched her arms and legs, almost imitating a house cat with her poise. She noticed the paper cup with a cardboard grip placed near him. Steam curled up a few inches before fading into the atmosphere. "I see you have already adapted to the taste."

"This isn't coffee," his eyebrows of purple flames arched up as he smiled. "It's something called cocoa and it contains these tiny treats called marhmellows."

"If I knew they sold cocoa I would have asked for a cup." She stared at the ledge bellow, keeping her wings folded and her tail wrapped around her waist. She did not want to attract to much attention to herself. Not much could be done for Pestilence's flames, although he had them diminished by an inch.

Not quite directly beneath them, but a few yards away was the patrol car assigned to them. One of detective's was inside. He kept the main police radio close and one of the Embassy communicators on the frequency of the others. His partner was walking around, disguised as a stylish woman on a date with the tall New Olympian. He dwarfed her and she was 5'10" in naked feet.

"Who else do you think is part of the group," Pestilence asked after taking his first drink of his beverage. He was able to alter the temperature around him, and cool the cocoa down if he chose too, but didn't.

"Keiron, no doubt. He and Deidre were an item. There is a small handful of arrowsmen and Titans who can sweat out arrows. There is also the possibility of Helios and Ekidna."

"Helios left before the uprising. He asked Megara to take him to Greece. He said something about soul searching. Ekidna never killed anyone. She technically was not part of the uprising and knew about only after she was elected to the senate."

She did not acknowledge his reply. Her focus was on the make believe couple. A few seconds ago they were standing and talking. Now Bellum was lying on the ground, and the woman was running. Sphinx could make out the form of a centaur chasing down after the woman.

"Call the others while I carry you." She grabbed onto the Mercurian from behind and latched her hands together against his stomach. She could hear Pestilence pressing the numbers for the Embassy as she stretched her wings.

* * *

"Ekidna," Edward's repeated the name, hoping it would stir a memory of when he last heard it. The woman before him could have been a part of the New Olympians. She looked like she had slithered out of story from Greek Mythology. "Are you a New Olympian?"

"The same as you are, although I don't really recall seeing you around the island," she stood as high as it was physically possible for her and cocked her head to the side. The look in her eyes was one Dr Edward's had seen before. The look of a woman trying to check out a man from all angles.

"I hate to dissappoint you but I'm not a New Olympian." Where did he hear her name before? wasn't it in the lobby when Phaedra and the Five had arrived. "I'm a sservant of Renepep. Although I hope to never sserve him."

"Who is Renepep?" She had looked disappointed for a second and then curious. "Why do you not wish to serve him?"

"He iss an evil monsster. A true demon in every form." He fingered a few of the stones hanging from his neck chain. He had kept them concealed under his shirt when he went out to meet his e-mail friend. "The sson of Apep and Rennet. He lookss like a giant two headed cobra and wass ssent to ssleep with a sstaff blesssed by hiss mother. Ssome blithering dolt had to wake him up."

"Where did thiss take place." Her expression transformed once more to concern.

"Egypt where I and a few collegess were digging through a new tomb," he sighed. "I was onsse an archeologist. I still am in a way but it iss difficult after I was bitten and transsformed into a servant. It may be hard to believe, but I used to be human."

"You were once human?" Ekidna lowered herself and shrank back. "You no longer appear human. You have to disguise yourself to venture out into the human world?"

"Pretty much sso."

"If they saw you, they would see you as a monster and attack you." It was a statement and not a question.

"Before The embassy was built I would have agreed," Her name was mentioned during the meeting. It came up during the explanation of the appraisal and before the resistance. " but they won't now, ssave for a few hate groups.

"Then why do you disguise yourself?"

"Becausse I do not wissh to be sstarred at," he knew who she was. She was on of those who asserted herself into the senate after the old group was murdered. "It is the ssame with people who are dissfigured or are misssing a limb. They are not attacked but stared at. Do you really hate my former sspeciouss to a point you want to kill them?"

* * *

To Hades with her wings being in pain. Antiope forced the musclrs in the back to pump her up into the. air. "Chris, I want you to stay back and try to keep out of sight." She flew directly towards Terry and the cop who had the arrows punched in his skin. She also did not remove her gaze from the direction the older cop flew from.

The clopping of hooves brought her focus towards the second cop. She could tell form the sound, the hooves were too light to be of an Equis centaur and more of a deer centaur.

Her confirmation was right when the golden form of Dryad galloped into view. Her hair, once beautifully brushed and kept in place with pins made out of pearls and laurel leaves had tangled into wild knots. Dryad's mouth was twisted into a cruel smile. It was clear she had enjoyed wounding the cop with a single kick of her strong legs.

"Murderer!" Antiope hoped her cry would have been loud enough to divert Dryad's attention towards her instead.

"Traitor!" Dryad hissed. Hey eyes were still glinting, but her smile had shifted into a frown. Her look was of pure hatred. "Still watching over the humans?"

Antiope had nearly winced when Dryad spat out the name of the other species. She did not feel like should dignify the usurper with an answer and dove towards her. Her eagle like talons were facing forward. The Centaur danced back at the last second and reared back. Her front hoofs were windmilling, Antiope flew back, but managed to give her forehead a good scratch.

"I see the truth." Dryad's hand instantly went to her forehead where it felt three lines of warm and sticky blood. She wiped it away before she galloped straight towards the Harpy and leaped for her, trying to make some contact with her hooves.

The dance continued for minutes. Dryad would try to leap and kick at Antiope and the harpy would try to scratch at Dryad. The centaur did not make much progress, except to wear Antiope out and Antiope barely managed to scratch her. After leaving a mark on her hand, Dryad pulled her arms to her chest.

Their small battle came to a halt when an half eaten apple pelted Dryad near the arm. Antiope took opportunity of the attack and dove towards the other woman's chest. She racked hard and deep, almost taking a strip of skin with her when she flew back.

Antiope sought out Chris, not knowing if she should be happy or angry with him. She quickly dodged Dryad's front hooves again and turned to see her new human friend trying to run towards her.

"Watch out." His words came out a second too late. Dryad had spun around and jumped and delivered a back kick. The sharp end of her hoof came in contact with Antiope's back.

"Your next," she glared at the human as she galloped towards the fallen embassy member. She would have kicked her again if her hoof did not step into the sudden flame that had appeared. Her hoof felt extremely hot, like metal in a smith shop and she could both feel and smell her fur being singed off. She stepped back and trotted around the way, but Antiope was not there.

"Looking for me?" Antiope had waited until Dryad had turned towards her to strike her in the nose with her fist. She watched as she stumbled backwards, nearly into Chris who delivered a punch strong ehough to knock her out.

Part of her wanted to lecture him, and part of her wanted to ask him how he was able to make the fire, except it had to wait.

* * *

From their advantage, both Sphinx and Pestilence could see Bellum getting back to his feet. The trenchcoat he was wearing was cast aside and he had both his gun and sword drawn.

"Keiron is going to get himself quite a surprise," Pestulance felt his abilities dividing themselves in his body. The air around his left side felt cool and a white glaze of frost developed around his fingers. The heat increased around his right and steam rose out of his palm.

"Brace yourself," Sphinx shifted into a near nose dive, plummeting to the ground before pulling up for a few inches. She heard Pestilence's groan and made herself promise she would apologize later. She had to avoid what was coming straight for them.

The other female flying towards them appeared as she could have come from the same tribe as Sphinx. Lithe human body with the same kind of face. Her ears were furry and pointed and projected through her dark bluish blak hair, styled short. A pair of dark feathery wings kept her in the sky. Her mother was of Sphinx's tribe but her father was a hybrid: a half naga and a half satyr. From hips to ankles she was covered with a thick pelt of shaggy hair. Her feet were covered in scales and ended in toes tipped by round nails that were as hard as hooves. She had a long spent like snake tail and a pair of goat's horns on her head.

"Chimera," Antiope dropped Pestilence a few feet above the ground before pulling back into the sky. She spun around to face her enemy. "I never knew you would sink to this level."

"You drove me to that level," She flew straight for Sphinx only to have her rival glide slip away from her. She dove for her again only to meet with the same results.

"There are more of us than you in this city," Sphinx hoped she could try to reason with her. "We have The Five on our side." She allowed Chimera to side swipe her again only to grab onto her arm.

"All your fault." Chimera struck out and felt her knuckles hit Sphinx's shoulder. She had hoped the other woman would have let go but Sphinx slapped her across her face. Chimera grabbed onto her arm that was holding her and dove down straight for the police car.

Sphinx saw what was happening and spun their bodies around at that last second, forcing Chimera's body to come incontact with the hood.

Chimera still had plenty of fight left in her. She grabbed onto Sphinx's chests with both hands and wrestled her to the windshield. "All your fault!" She slapped her enemy across the face. Her rough palm struck her nose. "You ruined our once perfect society." She slapped her again. Two of her nails left pink lines across Sphinx's cheek near the eye. "You brought that human to our home!"

"Elisa came first," Sphinx' ignored the blood coming out of her nose from Chimera's constant slapping. "She brought hope. You just can't realize the world had changed!" She brought her legs up to her chest and plowed her feet against Chimera's chest and pushed.

Chimera fell of the hood of the car and Sphinx pounded on her back. The brunet grabbed her rival by the back of her next and forced her head against the side of the car.

"I'll take care of it," Pestilence pulled Chimera out of Sphinx's grasp. The hybrid hissed at him and had her hands raised to scratch him, but the expression changed quickly. Goosbumpbs formed on the bare skin of her arms and she folded her wings across her body while she shivered.

"What about Keiron?" Sphinx wiped the blood off her face and massaged her sore arm.

"I think Bellem and our officer friends are taking quite good care of him," he placed a few glowing rings around Chimera's body. The bands kept her arms and wings bound.

* * *

"You have it all wrong. I do not care for killing," Ekidna slithered back even more into the shadows. "I only learned what happened to the former senate after I was elected. I did not know who was responsible until a few weeks later."

"And yet you remained," Edward's crossed his arms.

"I was grappling with my conscious the whole time." She held out a hand. "On one hand I was restoring the senate to what it should be, to work for the people of New Olympus and keep the humans out." She raised her other hand. "On the other I knew it was wrong and couldn't help but to think of those who were killed. My conscious won at the end. I resigned five days before the resistance."

"You left the island," he did not lose his accusatory tone for a second. "And decided to live with thosse who committed murder."

"I thought they would have changed once we left. I thought that I might have been able to change them. All we were going to was look for place were we could live that was far away from the humans. I did not want this slaughter to happen."

"Why didn't you go to the proper authorities?"

"I thought they would attack me," she stared at her hands. "If I knew what you have told me I would have gone."

"My friendss are looking for them. They will be arrested soon."

"I know," she sighed. "and in a way I'm relieved, but now I'm technically alone."

"You are better of with them in prisson." His voice softened. "Where are you going to go now?"

"I have been living in one of those storage boxes," She pointed to the storage house. "Orion and Chimera disguised themselves as humans and made the rest of us look like items to store."

"I can undersstand that part," He studied the Garage door like entrances to each storage box. "How did you eat and how did you find a computer to contact me?"

"We have brought our rations and I brought my own computer from New Olympus. I do not know what I'm going to do when the rations run out."

"You would get food in prisson. Living with people you know who have done wrong is an arresstable offensse."

"You are not going to send me to prison are you?"

He studied her face. Her eyes held a pleading look that melted his heart. "I'm not sure. Why didn't you tell me what wass happening?"

"I was ashamed," her eyes filled with tear and her whole body shook. "I was afraid that if I told you the truth you would have never wanted to see me."

"I ssee," he approached and grabbed onto her trembling hands. "There issn't much I can do except for one thing."

"Yes?" She blinked, spilling more tears down her cheeks.

"You want to sseek redemption and possibly sstudy humanss without interacting with them?"

"I want to be in a place where there is little human contact."

"I will be willing to do thiss if you are willing to sstudy my former sspeciouss and learn to not judge them ass they have judged your kind in the passt."

"I'll try, but it's hard."

"We will take the mosst ssimplesst and bassic sstepss," he glance back at the garage."I'm going to have everything in the storage shed, including you, sent to my house in England. There few humans and they are technically the servants. There are also my two closet colleges and a group of several gargoyles who occasionally pay me a visit."

"The humans that visit will see me?"

"They have seen and grown accusstomed to me. They will accept you."

"It is better than prison," she gave his own hands a gentle scqueeze, taking in the warmth from his grip.

* * *

How many titans were there in the city? Terry had watched both Antiope Talos barrel past him to whoever fired the arrows and watched as Antiope veer to the side to take care of the New Olympian described as Dryad, leaving Talos to deal with the muscle bound man who stood as tall as Bellum. His deep green hair stood up, like the flames on Pestilence's head. He was armed with two crossbows, both equipped to fire two arrows at once.

"Orion," Talos did not shout the name of the Titan. Terry had wondered if the automation was built to have been able to. "You are in violation of the Senate of New Olympus and the U.S Laws."

"Do you think I would car about their laws?" Orion did not have enough time to replace the arrows in his crows bows and tossed them aside as if they were dirty clothing. He had more than two weapons. The bandolier across his chest held five throwing knives. His belt was heavy with an ax, mace, and flail. He pulled out his ax and mace as Talos was about to advance on him.

Terry heard the sound of metal against metal, and watched as the two tall New Olympians as they assaulted each other, feeling weak and useless. He hated feeling weak and wished he could do something. The others had already been contacted. He looked over to the police. The cop who was knocked out was still lying on the ground. The one who received three of the arrows was crawling back inside his car. He was probably going to radio for back up.

He stared down at the arrow in his own arm and an idea came to his mind. Gritting his teeth, he pulled the arrow out from his arm.

Orion and Talos were deadlocked against each other. The golden robot had his hands locked onto the titan's wrists and braced him self to keep from being thrown aside. Talos squeezed as hard as his design abled him too.

Terry ran up to the back of Orion. If Talos had seen him he did not acknowledge the human. Terry breathed in deep and plodded the end of the crystal like arrow onto Orisons back. The arrow crumbled as he shoved it in. Only a few shards had impackedted the tight cloth and flesh.

"She said it was like steel," He stepped back in surprise.

"Ignorant," Orion set forth his entire strength and swung Talos to the side along with his ax. The pain was too much for one hand. "Titans are immune to their sweat."

"Shit," Terry doubled back, trying to run into the direction Antiope had taken. He had only made it a few feet when he felt something sharp in his ankle and stumbled forward. He rolled over on to his bottom and stared at the knife sticking out of his foot.

"I don't know if I killed that one human," Orion grabbed him by the back of his jacket. "I know I'm going to be able to kill this one." He raised his mace high above his head, with the intent of bring ing it down onto Terry's skull. He would have if the ball of fire hadn't landed on top of it. The heat travled down the metal, making it unbearable for Orion to continue holding it.

Terry turned to see where the fireball came from and saw Antiope flying straight for him, rather straight for the titan. Her hawk like talons thrashed at Orion whil her fists milled about.

Terry pulled himself from the grasp of the titan and felt himself land on his injured foot. He could almost hear the blade cutting deeper into his flesh and bone. He wondered if he could possible pull it out. The titan said he was immune to his sweat, not any other weapon.

Terry turned around at the sound of metal crashing agiasnt rock. Talos had tackled Orion and he and antiope's friend, Chris and Talos pinning the Titan down under his weight. Somebody came through. He could hear the sirens approaching and watched as Antiope place the golden bidning rings around Orion.

Both cops were still alive. The one who was impaled with Orion's arrows was going to need a blood transfusion and the other had a concussion. Hearing the words from the paramedics as they placed the cops on the gurneys brought reliefe to Antiope. She was even more relieved to hear Terry was only going to need a few stitches at most. His blood loss was not as severe.

"Are you certain you do not need any medical attention?" Talos was going to need some minor repairs to hammer outthe dents in his armor. "I have been told you have been kicked by Dryad."

"I just have a bruise and my wings are tired and achey," she did not look intothe glowing eyes of the automatron. Her focus was on Chris. "I just want to crawl into bed and get some sleep."

"Are you certain you do not want a doctor to check you out?" Chris asked.

"I'll have an embassy doctor take a look at me before I fall asleep." She stared at his hands, trying to fathom of how hwe was able to do what he did. "How did you make that fire?"

"Pardon?"

"You are the one who burned Dryad's leg and set a fire ball to Orion's mace," she had watched a few cartoons where humans had powers and she grew up where beings had it natraully. "Who are you really?"

"I guess it's time to finally come clean," he sat down ad used his finger to write out his name on the asphault. He was able to burn out his name. "Chris O. Maelrion. Is really an alias." He wrote out another name above it, crossing out each letter in his fake name until he had spelled out Helios Mercurian.

"Helios?"

"I have done a lot of soul searching." He dropped his accent as he grabbed his chin. The one with the dimple was fake and held to his skin with spirit gum. There was a few sticky bits of glue clinging to his skin. He removed his sunglasses and hat. The glowing red and orange flames nearly shot up. "As Chris I actually had a job and room mates. I learned to be a human and live in their world."

"You have our gratitude," Talos nodded towards him.

"Why did you do all this?" Antiope asked. Her skin felt nubm as a variety of emotions washed over her. She didn't know if she wanted to jump or to hug him.

"I did this all for you."

* * *

Hands of ivory white piled thin slices of meat high onto the buns along with crisp lettuce and slices of cheese and tomatoes. With a simple kitchen knife Nemesis cut each sandwich in half and placed a pickle next to each one. "I hope you all don't mind sandwiches."

"I don't mind," Fames tore open a bag of Ruffles and poured the chips into a large plastic bowl. She fought hard to keep her mouth from salivating at the scent of the snack food. "I probably could eat a couple."

"Eat a couple?" Bellum kept the ice pack to his head. He had only suffered minor scarps and bruises when fighting with Keiron, but the centaur had managed to deliver a hoofprint to the back of his head. "You, Morpheous and Mortis did not see any action. You stayed behind with Nemesis and the third patrol came up with nothing" He smiled at Antiope as she set a can of soda down in front of him. "Any news from Sphinx?"

"She said Terry and the others have been treated and she will be on her way home soon," the harpy made her way to the table where both the Cherub and two Mercurians were seated."How long have you been in D.C?" 

"A few months," Helios paused to take a sip from his cup of coffee. "I didn't outright seek you out at the Embassy at first, and chanced on luck I would come across you as Chris."

"How did you cover your eyes and flames?" Pestilance's own brows of flames were raised. "Most hats would burn and the plastic in the sunglasses would melt."

"It's made out of cutting edge material." He handed the pair of sunglasses over to the other Mercurian for him to check it out. "I had them both crafted in New Olympus. I just didn't wear them. The chin putty and accent was adopted as soon as I came to the states."

"What about the traiters?" Nemesis set a plate piled high with sandwiches down onto the table.

"The last we heard they were cussing out the officers," Bellum replied before he selected a sandwich. "They said something about being betrayed, but they won't tell us where they have been hiding."

"I'm curious on what you are going to do now," Antiope said.

"I'm going to try to get a job here," Helios accepted his shades back from Pestilence. "I'm sure my former roomates will understand."

"You might be able to fill in for Edwards," she opened up a can of soda for herself. "He said he had to leave for England on an important matter. The question wasn't just for you, but also The Five."

"Bellum wants us to stay here," Pestilence smiled at his leader. "I think he should be the one to explain."

"New Olympus does not need too much protecting now," the tall titan rose to his feet. "But a place like D.C does. You have gargoyles defending the citizens of Manhattan from criminals, now this city has us. We members of The Five will aid the police and protect the city." He slammed his fist into the palm of his hand.

"Oh dear," Morpheous had been trying to keep himself awake long enough to eat. Bellum's latest idea was enough to rattle him. "I'm going to have so much work trying to keep him from stepping out of line." He looked up when he felt a reassuring hand take his and smiled back at Mortis.

The End


End file.
